Page 81 of Wish You Were Her

“You,” George repeated, looking up at his employee, with cold detachment. “You’re not needed here, you can go. You’ve done enough.”

“Here’s my plan.” Natalie clapped her hands, as if to pull the focus back to the only person who was willing to be unemotional and practical. “You’re in love. Young love. Fell in love during a much-needed slice of normality for Allegra. Got a little passionate during a beautiful night by the lake, but did not go any further—”

“Stop,” Allegra said brokenly.

Natalie’s eyes widened. “What?”

“We’re not going to lie. Spin some sanitized version. We’re not going to say anything.”

She was not going to force Jonah into some charade where he had to pretend that he loved her in order to save her reputation.

“Darling, saying nothing just creates a vacuum for them to make up their own version.”

“Allegra,” Jonah spoke gently to her, his face open. “Why can’t we—?”

George suddenly got to his feet, leaving the room withoutany ceremony. Yet his exit was loud and a clear signal. He would not speak to Allegra with Jonah there.

“Allegra, I think you should post a picture of the two of you on your Instagram and we’ll treat it as a hard launch. The leaked pictures were unfortunate but you’re proud of your relationship and—”

“There is no relationship,” snapped Allegra. “You’re not pressuring him into pretending to date me so I can keep a few networks happy. I’m done with this conversation.”

She went to her room. Not her room, really; George’s spare bedroom. The room she was currently sleeping in. It would go back to being spare when she returned to the city.

It was not her home. She did not belong there. The little world of sanctuary she had come looking for was no longer there, in Lake Pristine.

It had been a silly dream, she thought. Silly to want a world to yourself when the world had decided that it owned you.

Jonah walked home in the early morning daylight. He turned his phone on and it was instantly ringing. His mother.

“Hey,” he said on picking up.

“I’m still with Aunt Shosh but she saw something online and then we turned on the breakfast show—”

“So, you’ve seen the pictures,” he said, his voice flat and without feeling.

“Yes! Jonah, are you all right? Is Allegra all right?”

“I’m okay.” Jonah felt a lump in his throat, at both her kindness and her refreshing lack of judgment. “Allegra’s… not.”

Allegra had gone to her room and when Jonah had knocked, she had pleaded with him to leave. He felt completely disassembled. He knew what images like that meant for a youngwoman and he hated himself for not protecting her. He hated that she was distraught. He hated that she didn’t think he was the person that could make it all go away.

And he couldn’t stop thinking of how she had declared there to be no relationship, how adamant she had been about it.

He had taken a work number and an email address from Natalie, determined to put the whole thing right somehow.

“I’m scared for you, honey. Aunt Shosh is driving me back to Lake Pristine right now.”

“Okay,” Jonah said, on autopilot. “I need some sleep.”

“Yes, get some rest. I’m so sorry, but we will fix this.”

He hung up as he arrived at his family’s bakery. It was shut but there were a few people lingering on the curb.

“Are you Jonah Thorne?” a woman in a transparent raincoat asked. “Can we have a comment from you about Allegra Brooks?”

He said nothing, letting himself into the apartment without even acknowledging her. He jogged up the stairs to their front door, let himself inside and went straight to his bedroom. He collapsed onto the double bed and finally started to check his messages.

A voice note from Kerrie: “Wow, Jonah, just wow. Couldn’t wait five minutes. Screw you. Or not. Whatever.”